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Clark Boat Company

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Clark Boat Company
Company typePrivately held company
IndustryBoat building
Founded1960
Defunct1984
Headquarters
Kent, Washington
,
United States
Key people
President: Bob Clark
ProductsSailboats

The Clark Boat Company was an American boat builder based in Kent, Washington. The company specialized in the design and manufacture of fiberglass sailboats.[1]

The company was founded by Bob Clark in 1960 and continued in business until 1984.[1]

History

Star keelboat
The Don Martin-designed San Juan 21

The first design produced was the Lightning, a racing dinghy. The company was one of tgeh fist to produce this boat design in fiberglass. The company went on to produce the OK, 505, Thistle dinghies and the Star keelboat.[1]

Star production began with the building of the mold "plug" by Olympic sailing gold medalist, William Earl Buchan. Later the molds went sent back to Buchan at the end of production.[1]

The company employed many members of Clark's family. Bob's son Dennis started his own sail manufacturing business in 1971, the Clark Sails Loft in 1971. Dennis Clark was also a one design champion in several boat classes.[1]

Son Dave Martin became the head of sales and marketing for the company.[1]

Son Don Martin earned a degree in engineering and completed addition studies in naval architecture. He designed the San Juan 21, which was introduced at the 1970 Seattle Boat Show to positive acclaim. This design had a production run of 2600 boats and was the first of the San Juan series of boats, named for the nearby chain of islands, a line that achieved commercial success.[1]

With business growing the company established an east coast plant at New Bern, North Carolina in 1972.[1]

The company hired Bruce Kirby of Laser fame to design the San Juan 24 and it entered production the following year, in 1973.[1]

The company was sold to San Juan Manufacturing in 1984 and it soon went bankrupt. The molds were sold off with some designs being bought by Tanzer Industries in Montreal, who built some boats from the line until its bankruptcy in 1986.[1][2]

Boats

File:C-Lark.jpg
The Don Martin-designed C-Lark
The Bruce Kirby-designed San Juan 24

Summary of boats built by Clark:[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Browning, Randy (2018). "Clark Boat Company 1960-1984". sailboatdata.com. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
  2. ^ Browning, Randy (2018). "Tanzer Industries Ltd, 1966-1986". sailboatdata.com. Retrieved 29 September 2018.

Media related to Clark Boat Company at Wikimedia Commons

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